Ndawa the Great (circa 1850 – July 1888) was one of the most formidable Mende warriors of the 19th century. He waged many campaigns, some in support of allies, but in later life largely as a mercenary and freebooter.
He was born about 1850 at Manjolu in present – day Kpejewa chiefdom in the Kailahun district. From childhood he made clear his determination to become nothing else but a warrior. Accused of having an affair with one of the wives of a local ruler, he was sold as a slave, eventually ending up in the possession of Makavoray (q.v.) who taught him the use of the sword.
He soon became a professional, and his first great military campaign is known to history as the ‘Kpo-veh’ wars (which took place in about the 1880s in upper Mende country). These wars resulted in the expulsion of Benya of Blama from Makavoray’s territories around Tikonko in present-day Bo district.
Benya, a local chief, had several times attacked Makavoray’s country, and Ndawa vowed he would teach him a lesson. He invited Kai Londo (q.v.), then a little-known Kissi warrior, to join him in hostilities against Benya, and they successfully routed him from Makavoray’s lands.
Meanwhile, in the far south of his master’s country, Ndawa had built his own military stronghold at Wende, comprising a chain of 13 towns. From here he invited Kai London to continue the fight against Benya, who had by this time escaped north to Kono country. Much booty was acquired during this adventure, but Ndawa cheated Kai London over the division of the spoils and they quarrelled. Ndawa then threatened to destroy the state of Luawa in the far east of Sierra Leone, where Kai London settled, and this led to the famous confrontation at Ngiehun where Kai London defeated Ndawa. After this Ndawa promised to leave Luawa in peace.
But other areas had little chance of peace. Ndawa was hired by rival parties with quarrels to settle. In 1886 he threatened to sack Bundasuma to the south on the Moa River and was only prevented by the action of Governor Sir Samuel Rowe (terms of office 1877- 1880, 1885 – 1888) who persuaded Makovoray to stop him. The following year, Ndawa and another warrior, Makaya, were hired to fight in the succession disputes in the Gallinas. During this offensive the ruler of Banda-suma, a woman named Malo or Nalo, was captured, and the British customs post at Sulima raided.
This angered Governor Rowe who sent a special service officer, Capt. Coupland Crawford, to Sulima to take charge. He was instructed only to repel attacks, but, under pressure from local people, particularly traders, he overstepped his instructions and led an unauthorised expedition against Largo, Makaya’s stronghold. There he released several thousand slaves, and Makaya fied.
Ndawa was at the time absent campaigning in Dama, where he unexpectedly met his end. Breaking one of the conventions of pre-colonial warfare, a young ‘war sparrow’ (one of the rank and file of the army) attacked the great warrior and severed the main artery in his left heel. “Only a great warrior puts an end to his counterpart,” goes the Mende saying. So Ndawa cried out, having taken refuge in the buttress of a large tree, calling on Jemi Lenjeh, the leader of the ‘sparrow’ and a better-known warrior, to come and ‘finish him.”
In this unlikely fashion, in July 1888, the brief but dramatic career of Ndawa came to an end.
ARTHUR ABRAHAM
